Market Paralysis

Does fear make you freeze? Or do you embrace it? Fear or apprehension or a little nervousness can make me just stuck! For the first quarter of 2012, I was a buying fool! I bought 7 different stocks (over 20K, yay me, bonus and savings from 2011) and sold 3 stockes (2 were my big gainers TJMaxx and McDonalds).

With the market being a little saggy, slow, up and down, not all the fun this past month, I haven’t bought anything in April, and the month is almost over. I have the cash sitting in my account (I’d like to invest 10-15K), just waiting for me to move it. I even had a somewhat unexpected tax refund (I hate to loan the government my money, I’d rather keep it for myself throughout the year) of several thousand dollars that I would also like to invest in some dividend stock. But of my 7 purchases this year, 3 have gone down in value (not much, each less than 5%), and that annoys me. I try to buy in the dips, but I think I was a little trigger happy, and bought a little too much on emotion rather than true valuation. I don’t want to make that mistake again, so I am just hanging out, waiting for the buying bug to move me. I need to compliment that with research and analysis, so I can make wise choices.

In order to pass this funky slump I’ve been in, I have looked to what I know best, education in a group setting. I have registered for two Scottrade* training classes set for mid-May. I always get jazzed when I take a class, and I find that the Scottrate classes are informative without being overwhelming. If B is in town, I will see if he wants to attend with me.

The stocks I have been looking to add to my portfolio are Pfizer (PFE), Proctor & Gamble (PG) and General Electric (GE).

*Scottrade doesn’t pay me to talk about their classes, but they should 🙂